


the friend in my adversity

by knifeofnarwhal



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Can be interpreted as romance, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Not-Friends to Friends, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:21:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26770582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifeofnarwhal/pseuds/knifeofnarwhal
Summary: A tale told in drabbles of how Zagreus and Megaera go from not-friends to friends.
Relationships: Megaera & Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Megaera & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Thanatos (Hades Video Game), Megaera/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Thanatos & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Zagreus/Megaera/Thanatos (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My word processor assured me that each drabble was 100 words so
> 
> ¯\\_( :/ )_/¯
> 
> Dedicated to the many times I saw the Game Over screen while playing this game.
> 
> I do not consent to this work or any of my work being uploaded or displayed through third-party apps and websites. If you are viewing this work through an app that makes money from advertisements, please close the app and view my work for free on the original Ao3 page.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."  
> \- Ulysses S. Grant

The first time Zagreus sauntered into Megaera's domain, Megaera's body had been coiled into an indescribable rage. The gall of him to smile so frivolously about it. The gall of his Lord Father, relegating her to a glorified babysitter. 

"Megaera! Wonderful night, isn't it?" Zagreus began conversationally. 

"No," Megaera groused because it bloody well was not. At that point in her rage, 'no' was the only syllable she was capable of articulating. 

Not bothering to draw her whip, she flew at Zagreus, apparently still talking, pulled her arm back, and punched that spoilt little shit right back into the Styx. 

"So, couple of thoughts," Zagreus announced, passing through the entryway a second time.

Same infuriating smile, though this time he was armed with Varatha. Megaera harboured no great love for Hades, though there was something unforgivably profane about the way The Eternal Spear was being handled that she took offence at on His behalf; Zagreus spinning the infernal arm, passing it from one hand to the other like it was little more than his plaything.

When the opening presented itself, she lassoed Varatha into her possession and hurled it through his chest, pinning a Zagreus-sized tapestry to the west wall. 

The third time, Megaera killed Zagreus right as he traversed the vestibule leading into the first chamber. The goal here had been efficiency. No sooner had she dispatched the unsuspecting malcontent, however, did the chamber walls begin to reverberate violently. Megaera had to hold on to a shattered column to keep her balance as dust shook from the ceiling and settled into her hair. 

"MEGAERA." Hades boomed. 

_What now?_ Megaera bit the inside of her cheek to will the bitter reproach from her tone. "Your Majesty."

"YOU ARE NOT TO LEAVE YOUR HALL." 

Megaera exhaled through her nostrils. "Yes, Sire."

It occurred to Megaera that physically imprisoning Zagreus could prove a better use of her time. With that in mind, she made her descent to the House Contractor and presented her request along with the gemstones. 

By the time the modifications to the hall were declared ready, Zagreus was emerging from the Styx: soaked, but still grinning like Hades was going to enact a ban against it tomorrow. 

He sidled up to Megaera, patting at his face with a towel Dusa had helpfully supplied. 

"Megaera! I knew you couldn't get enough of me. Been waiting long?"

Megaera turned and left.

Zagreus lasted all of two minutes before the deadly gauntlet finally caught up to him, slicing both legs off right below the knees. The rest of him that was still attached spun a few revolutions in the air before landing in a heap. 

Megaera pushed herself off from the wall where she had been watching and walked over. She nudged the groaning mass with her foot until he lay supine.

Blood and Darkness, the groaning had been _laughter_. 

"Megaera, if this is your idea of _foreplay_ -" 

Megaera unbuckled her whip and garrotted him swiftly before he could finish that sentence.

For someone trussed up and strung upside-down, Zagreus was optimistic. 

In fact, Megaera held a sneaking suspicion he’d planned for their encounter to end this way. Following a cursory check to make sure the knots were still intact, she decided it prudent to pat him down lest he had a knife stashed away somewhere. 

Zagreus remained quiet for the most part, only letting up on the ruse when her hands ventured near his privates. 

“Megaera!" Zagreus sounded scandalised. "If you wanted to have your way with me-" 

Megaera unsheathed the knife strapped to her thigh and promptly slit his throat. 

The point of torture was to extract every last bit of hope and crush it underfoot. But how did one solve the problem of Zagreus, who was a fountain gushing with the stuff?

Megaera took stock of the tools laid out in front of her. Some bloody, most mangled beyond repair. No wonder Lord Hades had been against torture. Patience was the boon that accompanied immortality.

Behind her, Zagreus leaned to the side in his chair and spat out blood. Megaera could hear the smirk in his voice. "Try the pliers." 

Without turning, Megaera flung a scalpel into his skull.

Since torture was a futile endeavour where Zagreus was concerned and Megaera was nothing if not practical in how she conducted her business, she revisited the House Contractor, and found the sprite waiting with the paperwork held out to her. Megaera bristled at the implication but filled in the work order tactfully enough.

Zagreus, dripping from the Styx, peered over her shoulder in interest. "All that effort for little old me? I'm _touched_ , Meg." 

"Rather see you _decapitated_ ," Meg muttered. 

" _Charming_. But then who would liven things-" 

" _Ahem_ ," said Hades, gesturing pointedly to his work. Cerberus yawned. 

"Father! How's things?"

Megaera surveyed the smoking body in the centre of the crater cynically. Behind her, wretched thugs milled about, regenerating limbs lost from the earlier battle, awaiting command. 

“That should have killed you,” she snapped. Scowling, she dug her foot under the body's chest and flipped it. 

Zagreus’ smile was delirious. “Dumb luck?”

Megaera took a step back, raising a hand to halt the horde as they advanced. 

Zagreus’ face contorted, though there was nothing to show for the effort. He snorted. 

“What.”

“Can't feel. My legs...”

Megaera's hand closed. She stepped further back to let the wretched enjoy their revenge. 

“Oh _come on_ , this is hardly _fair_ ,” Zagreus laughed. 

He ducked to avoid getting beheaded, then scrambled as purple flame incinerated the ground from underneath, nipping at his heels. 

Megaera didn’t like the arrangement either, but the wretched's presence here was at Lord Hades’ behest, and she’d rather contend with junior’s wrath than His. Dishonourable and insulting as it was to her pride as a Fury. “ _So_?” 

“So how 'bout it? Just you and me! I won't tell if you don't.”

The wretched paused in their advance, all turning at once to Megaera. 

“ _Die,”_ Megaera hissed, and she reached skyward. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "All you women who want a man of the street  
> An' don't know which way you wanna turn  
> Just keep a-coming  
> And put your hand out to me  
> 'Cause I'm the one who's going to make you burn"  
> \- _Shoot to Thrill_ , AC/DC

The smile on Zagreus’ face was off-putting tonight. 

Not that it usually wasn’t, but the atmosphere felt _charged_ , an undercurrent standing the hair follicles of Megaera’s wing on end. There was a new scent, hovering like an invisible shroud about Zagreus, and Megaera didn’t have to guess which was capable of triggering the instant hostility in the wretched. Their consciousness’s strained against her control, hissing and growling. 

“You… _idiot_!” Megaera snarled before Zagreus could open his mouth. “Do you realise what you’ve visited upon your Father’s House?”

Zagreus shrugged. “You’ve got your sponsor, I’ve got mine.”

All hell broke loose.

Dusa let out a tiny ‘eep!’ after she set Megaera’s cup on the table between them. Though there hadn’t been any physical contact, it seemed the residual static from Megaera’s earlier battle worked on proximity alone. It was wearing off, but slowly.

“Apologies, Dusa,” said Megaera, and she pushed herself away from the table to stand, stilling when her back pressed against a wall that wasn’t there before. She whipped around, glaring. “Do you mind?”

“Uh, sorry,” Zagreus said, flushing as he quickly stepped back to give her room. “Just wanted to say no hard feelings for-”

“ _Leave me alone_.”

“Just die already!” Megaera snapped. 

Zagreus was flat against the tile, Megaera’s whip around his throat, her foot pressing into his back for additional leverage. The tile cracked under pressure, but he remained stalwart. 

Somehow, Zagreus was still capable of speech. (Somehow, Megaera was unsurprised.) “Let. _Out_!”

“Of course I’m not letting you out!”

“No. _You!_ _Anger._ Out!”

Megaera paused, eyes narrowed.

Zagreus shrugged. 

Megaera let go. Zagreus freed himself then flipped onto his back, breathing hard. Crouching, Megaera took hold of his face in her hands. 

Idly, she wondered why he was blushing. 

And then she snapped his neck. 

Megaera stood with crossed arms, teeth grinding behind her lips as the broker placed her purchases onto the desk. Incorrigible shit managed to both fray her whip and raise questions amongst her sisters regarding her tenure with Lord Hades. Yet another frustration added to the list of frustrations. 

"Chimera breath, catoblepas hide, centaur mane," Zagreus read. He'd appeared and pilfered the list during her lapse in focus. 

Styx take him. "Mind your own business."

"Would that you stopped meddling in mine," Zagreus replied smoothly.

Rather than dignify that with a response, Megaera gathered her items and started walking.

"Need help?" 

A dense purple fog blanketed the hall, unravelling Megaera's control over the wretched. They ambled uselessly about in a drunken stupor while Zagreus weaved around, slapping a few on the behind as he made his way over. 

Having titan blood in her, Megaera's tolerance was higher, but it wouldn't remain so. In one hour the haze had grounded her. In another... 

"Almost like we're _dancing_ ," Zagreus teased. 

He dodged her swipes, retaliating with deadly slashes of his own, finally striking true. Megaera found herself being lowered to the ground, oddly gentle. 

"Be seeing you, I suppose. Give Hypnos my regards." 

Hypnos cackled as he signed Megaera in. "Makes you feel any better, Zag died soon afterwards."

Megaera's wing twitched. She peered at Hypnos suspiciously. " _How soon_?"

A splash erupted behind them. 

"Fifteen minutes, give or take," Zagreus grumbled as he emerged. "Butterflies.”

"Stop toying with them," Megaera said.

"But they’re so toy-able! You look well."

" _Sober_ ,” Hypnos corrected. “Heard you had yourselves a bacchanal down there." 

"Every day's a bacchanal with Megaera." 

Megaera regarded Zagreus, instantly suspicious. "Is that an insult or flattery?"

"You don't strike me as someone easily flattered."

Megaera almost smiled. “And don’t you forget it, Prince.”

Eavesdropping was unavoidable in the Master's House since Zagreus was a loudmouth with ill-concern for his surroundings. Even more so when he gossiped with Achilles.

"Heard that," Zagreus muttered. 

"'Prince' _is_ a step above 'idiot'," said Achilles with a chuckle. "Suppose one could reasonably constitute that as progress."

"Oh, one definitely intends to. Just think, this time next eon, she might even call me by _name_!"

They laughed. 

Rolling her eyes, Megaera finished her wine and quietly made her exit.

Zagreus froze as he processed this knowledge. He glared up at the ceiling, red-faced.

"Lead with that next time, man!" 

"This is getting old, don't you think?" Zagreus panted. 

He dashed to avoid the purple columns of flame erupting through the tile, before furiously trading blows with the wretched thugs who had been waiting on the other side. Right as he broke through their line, Megaera swooped forward, catching him by the throat, slamming him against a pillar. 

"Apologies, Prince," Megaera said while Zagreus' feet dangled uselessly. "Lord Hades made no provisions for _originality_ in his directive."

Zagreus' eyes lit up despite his current predicament, delighted. "Was that sarcasm?" 

"Perhaps," Megaera tightened her grip. "But who's going to believe you?"

Having tallied Zagreus’ losses so often, it was only a matter of time before Hypnos started a betting pool to break up the monotony in his routine. The idea was pitched to Hades as a way to bolster staff morale, which Hades’d allowed, under the condition He’d revoke the privilege if productivity dipped. Zagreus was undaunted. With every failure came learning and an increased chance of success. 

“Yes, tell the whole world, why don’t you?” Zagreus muttered, shaking out his hair. 

“You know, _Meg_ could give you some pointers on dodging,” Hypnos suggested slyly, eyes tracking Zagreus as he passed.

Megaera was staring at Zagreus as if he’d just announced the Titans had escaped. Inwardly, Zagreus wondered if that might have been preferable to his proposal. 

“So… how about it?” Zagreus said. 

Megaera regarded him for a long moment. “Fine.”

That... had gone better than expected. Zagreus stared, somehow feeling like she’d personally handed him the Golden Fleece. "Really?” 

“So long as you die, it’s all the same to me," Megaera said with a shrug. She raised a hand, closing her fingers into a fist. The wretched charged.

“Wait! That’s not what I-”

“Lesson one,” Megaera declared with a smirk. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm right here at your door  
> I won't leave, I want more  
> What's up, danger?"  
> \- _What's Up Danger_ , Blackway & Black Caviar

The visitor to Megaera's hall was unexpected, though not entirely unsolicited. Thanatos had a work ethic Megaera respected, so his presence was tolerable.

"Heard you'd redecorated,” Thanatos said.

"Nothing compared to the Prince's bedchambers, I'm sure."

Thanatos stiffened.

"Shades are always looking to curry favour," Megaera explained. "Don't worry; I stuffed them in a chest and tossed it downriver." Servitude to Lord Hades was privilege earned, not gifted.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Least of all to the Prince. Don't need him getting the idea that we're friends."

 _Even though that's something a friend would do_ , Thanatos thought. "Very well."

Dusa's normally cheerful disposition shifted into concern. "You're pensive. Something happen with your sisters?"

Would that it'd break up the banality of fighting Hades' idiot progeny every day. Megaera sighed. "No, I just miss torturing people. _So many pathetic stories,_ Dusa. But they were mine to collect, and I relished it. Every day a new puzzle to crack." 

Dusa giggled, and Megaera felt an invisible weight pat her hand. "Care to share?"

While the women chatted, Zagreus hovered at the lounge entrance. Eavesdropping, rather than joining the conversation like any normal person would.

"You know I can hear you, right?"

Zagreus was faster tonight, though not enough to tilt the battle in his favor. The wretched still spawned at a rate that outpaced the speed they were being dispatched, and there was never a shortage of those eager to ingratiate themselves to Lord Hades. Still, Megaera took care to hover out of range lest Hermes' penchant for mischief proved a side-effect of the boon. 

(Though one could argue Zagreus was trouble enough without the Trickster's patronage).

Zagreus dislodged Stygius from the chest of a wretched witch, making a face as its putrid essence oozed onto his foot.

Megaera's mouth twitched.

The competition had been fierce, but Zagreus prevailed, beating Thanatos' tally by a narrow margin. After the night he'd had battling his way up to Elysium it was nice to see a familiar face. Even if said face was pouting.

"Cheater," said Thanatos contemptuously. "If not for your Uncle's patronage I'd have won. _Easily_."

Zagreus plunged Stygius into the ground and leaned against it, grinning. "Whatever, still counts. Now, the centaur heart if you don't mind.”

Thanatos held it out. Just as Zagreus reached out Thanatos vanished, leaving Zagreus diving to catch it before it could roll into the Styx.

"Obol for your thoughts?"

When Zagreus didn't respond immediately, Achilles flicked him in the forehead.

Zagreus blinked.

Achilles raised an eyebrow back.

"Sorry, mate. A bit-"

Achilles traced Zagreus' gaze through the archway and into the hallway outside the lounge where Thanatos and Megaera were talking, standing closer than one'd presumed either of them would be comfortable with.

" _Indeed_."

"Oh. N-no, I'm not-"

"I suppose we _could_ talk about-"

"Than and Meg-"

" _Friendship,_ " Achilles finished, smiling. "Or we could talk about the _other thing_ if you'd prefer?"

Zagreus' face burned hot as the Phlegethon. "I'm good. What's this about friendship?"

"So I heard the most interesting rumor the other night..." Zagreus trailed off, wide-eyed.

A different Fury stood cross-armed at the entrance to Asphodel, her whip -barbed, Zagreus noted, wincing- sparking embers against the ground.

"Do tell," Alecto said.

("So this one's Alecto." Yes. "She looks... Welcoming." As a nest of vipers can be.)

"Apologies, case of mistaken…"

"You can tell me. I'm a good listener."

"Actually-"

Her whip whistled through the air, shattering the pillar where Zagreus head would've been had he not ducked in time.

"That wasn't a suggestion," Alecto snarled, taking flight.

This was going to hurt.

Nyx's smile was melancholic. Almost enough to guilt Megaera out of the sour mood she’d entered the hall with.

"It pains me to see you two pitted against each other. Tartarus is cruel enough."

His fault for wanting to escape. "If it's any consolation, it's my sisters who've had their fill of the Prince... of late."

"Yet you don't sound consoled yourself." Nyx touched Megaera's arm.

"I'd prefer to attend to my duties on my own terms," Megaera admitted quietly. "That said, I can no more withhold the nature of my sisters than you can force Zagreus to sit still."

Zagreus' expression went from wariness to relief the instant he spotted her. "Oh thank gods- AAAH!"

It had been reflex for Megaera to interpret his sudden blundering approach as a threat. She'd caught his wrist, twisted it behind his back and shoved. Zagreus stumbled, catching himself before he could crash into a statue.

"Quite a grip you've got there," Zagreus said, shaking his hand out.

"You charged at me," Megaera said. She cracked her whip against the floor and wretched began to proliferate the hall, growling hungrily.

"That's new," Zagreus remarked.

Megaera snorted and cracked the whip a second time.

War. Countless deaths and near-deaths. Alecto and Tisiphone thriving in the chaotic violence of it all, much like Ares. Thanatos had him to thank for the restlessness that shadowed him from the infirmary tents to Tartarus, where he now paced in front of a familiar, albeit half-destroyed altar.

Megaera dismissed the House Contractor and walked over.

Her hands were bloody. Thanatos caught her fingers before she could conceal them behind her back. Tugged.

Under his scrutiny, the blood turned to ash, dissipating before it touched the floor.

"There's nothing for him out there," Megaera said.

"I know," Thanatos said, sighing.

Even after a few wines Dusa remained a ball of distracted energy, eyes flickering to the lounge entryway every few seconds. Megaera had to drop a heavy hand onto the gorgon's head to force her still.

"The Prince isn't a child; he can pick up after himself-"

"N-no," Dusa said quickly, cheeks colouring. "It's not that, I just. When Zagreus was here a few days ago... I smelled him."

"Who?"

" _Him,_ " Dusa emphasised, quietly.

Megaera's hand curled tightly around her cup with barely restrained rage. Of course the idiot would accept a boon from _him_.

"I'll take care of it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tags updated, i ship meg/than now as well as meg/than/zag, but the focus is still about meg warming up to zag  
> thanks for reading!


End file.
